Most reference lists are built for one assignment and left inside it. By the second year, the paper that carried a first-year essay has shrunk to a surname, a rough year and no DOI. The answer to "where do I save my references" is a record that belongs to you, not to an assignment or a university account, kept from the first module to the last.
EdCitation publishes this guide. Guidance from six universities, the documentation of Zotero and Mendeley, and a 2024 survey were read for it on 23 September 2026. The short version: build each entry from its DOI or ISBN with EdCitation's free Cite a source, tag it with the module it served, and keep the list somewhere that does not close when your course does.
Why do students lose their references between modules?
Because the list lives inside one assignment, or on an account or a licence that ends with the course. Each has a fix.
The list is written into one essay
A list typed at the end of an essay records that essay and nothing else. Williams and Woods (2024) surveyed 263 undergraduates, taught postgraduates, postgraduate researchers and staff at the University of Huddersfield. They found many digital and non-digital ways of managing references, software used more by researchers and staff than by undergraduates, and a theme that practices develop over time. Only the abstract could be read, and it does not say that students lose sources; that link is ours. A habit that changes every year can drop sources at each change.
The account closes when the course does
The University of Reading (2026b) suggests undergraduates keep a "Reference File" somewhere reachable from any device, naming OneDrive, Google Docs and Dropbox. Reading's own leavers' page says the student IT account is deactivated a few weeks after the course ends, with a warning email 30 days before, and tells students to download their OneDrive files first (University of Reading, 2026a). So the advice has an exception: a Reference File in a university OneDrive lasts only as long as the student account.
The licence ends too
The University of Essex (n.d.) gives students EndNote free of charge, "but you must remove the software when you leave". The University of York (n.d.) says an EndNote online account is downgraded to a standard account when you leave and "none of your data will be lost". Two universities, two answers: read your own university's page before your final term.
What do university library guides say about keeping a record of sources?
Record every source when you find it, with enough detail to find it again, and move to software as the list grows. None of the pages read says "start in your first year" in so many words, but each describes a habit that begins with the first source.
- Record as you search. The University of Western Australia (2026) says an online source needs extra details, such as its DOI or database, or its URL and the access date, and asks you to mark direct quotations in your notes.
- What goes in comes out. Reading warns that any reference management program is "only as good as the information you give it", and that a wrong detail is harder to put right later (University of Reading, 2026b).
- Tags, and a format to move in. The Open University's session on reference management tools shows adding your own tags or labels, and calls RIS "the most common file format for exporting reference details" (The Open University, n.d.-b).
Where the guides disagree
Reading calls a Reference File the easiest way for undergraduate assignments. UCL says reference management software is worthwhile "even if you are working with only a few references" (University College London, 2026). For one module, both are right; our view is that a record meant to last three years should be searchable by module from the first week.
What should a personal reference record hold?
Six things for each source: the full reference, its identifier, the page you used, the date you read any web page, what you used it for, and a tag for the module and assignment.
| Keep | Why | Example | Where EdCitation does it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The full reference, built from the record | A detail typed wrong early is harder to fix later | The Baker (2016) entry below | Cite a source builds it from the DOI or ISBN |
| The DOI or ISBN | Finds the work again and rebuilds the entry in any style | 10.1038/533452a | Kept with every saved reference |
| The page you quoted or paraphrased | Cite Them Right Harvard wants page numbers for ideas from a specific page | The page beside each quotation | In your own notes |
| The date you read a web page | Harvard web references end with the access date | Accessed 23 September 2026 | In your own notes |
| What you used it for | Tells you in year three why a source mattered in year one | "methods", "background" | A tag |
| The module and assignment | Lets one list serve every module | PSY101, essay 2 | Tags, and a filter by tag |
The Open University's quick guide to Cite Them Right Harvard asks for page numbers when you quote, paraphrase or use ideas from particular pages, and its web page template ends "(Accessed: date)" (The Open University, n.d.-a). APA 7 is different: most references carry no retrieval date, which is added only when a work is unarchived and designed to change (American Psychological Association, 2025). Record the date anyway: next term may be Harvard.
Why a tag and not a folder
Put a source in a folder and it lives in one module; give it two tags and it answers to both. Zotero's documentation allows "as many tags as you like" and notes that tags travel between libraries while collections do not (Zotero, n.d.-b).
Where should I save my references: a document, a reference manager or an account?
In one place you control that keeps the identifier with each entry; which one depends on whether you cite inside Word as you write. Every fact about Zotero and Mendeley below was read on their own pages on 23 September 2026.
| A document in your own storage | Zotero | Mendeley | A free EdCitation account | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free; 300 MB of file storage free | Free; 2 GB of storage free | Free |
| On every device | If the storage is yours, not the university's | Data sync is "free and unlimited" | Synced "whenever you are online" | Saved to your account, the same on every device you sign in on |
| Tags by module | Headings you type | Yes | Yes, searchable by tag | Yes, with a filter by tag |
| Where each entry comes from | You type or paste it | A web page, an identifier, a PDF or you | PDFs you add, or its browser importer | The publisher's record, from the identifier |
| Cites inside a word processor | No | Word, LibreOffice, Google Docs | Word | No |
| Moves the list elsewhere | Copy and paste | Imports RIS and BibTeX; exports the library | Exports BibTeX, EndNote XML or RIS, desktop app only | Word, BibTeX or RIS |
What each one is for
A document is enough for a module or two, if it sits in storage you keep after graduation. Zotero, from a non-profit, calls itself "a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research" (Zotero, n.d.-g); Mendeley's home page offers "the free all-in-one reference manager" (Elsevier, n.d.-d). The table's sync, tag and export details come from their documentation (Zotero, n.d.-c, n.d.-d, n.d.-e; Elsevier, n.d.-a, n.d.-b, n.d.-c). Both keep PDFs and cite as you write, Zotero in Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs (Zotero, n.d.-f), which EdCitation does not. Both store what the page or PDF supplied, and Zotero's own page says to check every item for accuracy after saving it (Zotero, n.d.-a). EdCitation keeps a reference list rather than a library; citation generator, reference manager or reference checker? explains the difference.
How do I use the same source in a different style next term?
Keep the source's identifier and rebuild the entry in the new style; never retype last term's entry by hand. APA 7 leaves an article title plain, while Cite Them Right Harvard puts it in single quotation marks and adds "Available at:" before the DOI.
A worked example: one source, two modules
Say a first-year research methods essay in APA 7 cited Monya Baker's 2016 Nature news feature on a survey of researchers about reproducibility, and a second-year report in Harvard needs it again. The record holds the DOI, 10.1038/533452a, and two tags: "research methods" and "year 2 report". On 23 September 2026 EdCitation's Cite a source returned this for that DOI in APA 7:
Baker, M. (2016). 1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility. Nature, 533(7604), 452–454. https://doi.org/10.1038/533452a
And in Harvard, from the same record:
Baker, M. (2016) ‘1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility’, Nature, 533(7604), pp. 452–454. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/533452a.
Neither needed an edit. The APA entry follows the APA Style site's journal article pattern, a page range without "pp." and the DOI as a link (American Psychological Association, 2025). The Harvard entry matches the Open University's example of an article found by DOI, which ends with the DOI and no access date (The Open University, n.d.-a).
The exception: the source moves, your sentences do not
Citing a source again is ordinary scholarship. Handing in your own sentences from an assignment already marked is something else, and most universities treat it as self-plagiarism unless the marker agrees; what self-plagiarism is sets out the rules. Read the source again for the new claim, too.
I have lost my references: how do I get them back?
Start from the work you handed in, because every reference list you submitted records what you used. Recover those files while you can: Reading's leavers' page says support staff cannot retrieve coursework once you have left (University of Reading, 2026a).
- Download each submitted assignment and its feedback before your student account closes.
- Paste each reference list into EdCitation's free Verify references. Each entry comes back verified, doubtful ("check this") or not found, retractions are flagged, and an entry that could not be checked never counts as not found.
- Rebuild each entry that stands from its DOI or ISBN with Cite a source in the dashboard, where a free account saves it to your list, and tag it with the module it came from.
- For a sentence whose source is gone, search for the claim in Find sources, across about 300 million published works, and read what comes back before citing it.
- If an old list sits in a university-licensed reference manager, export it as RIS or BibTeX before the licence ends and keep the file in your own storage.
A "not found" on a report, a thesis or an old book often means the index does not hold it; how to check whether a reference is real covers those.
How does EdCitation keep your references from course to course?
EdCitation is the best place to keep a reference list that has to last a degree, because each entry comes from the publisher's record, found rather than typed, so the entry saved in your first term is as right in your last. It answers Reading's warning that software is only as good as what you give it: the Baker entry above came from one DOI, in two styles, with nothing to correct.
A free account saves three things to your account rather than to one browser: your reference list, your reading list of sources bookmarked to read, and the books you keep in My Books from the Library. They are the same on every device you sign in on, and they follow you from one module, year and course to the next.
- Tags by module and assignment. Each reference takes your own tags, such as "PSY101" or "essay 2", and the list filters to one tag at a time.
- A style for each reference. Any one reference can take a style of its own, so a source kept for an APA essay this term can serve a Harvard report next term. Copying or downloading takes what is showing, each entry in its own style.
- Out in the form you need. The list pastes into Word or Google Docs with its italics and a hanging indent, or downloads: a Word document, BibTeX for LaTeX and Overleaf, or RIS for Zotero, EndNote or Mendeley.
- Shared with classmates. The Team page invites people by email to see your reading list, your reference list or both, and each creates a free account to see it; Share beside a single reference or bookmark shares just that one. Sharing one reference list in a group project shows it at work.
One thing is not saved to your account: papers uploaded for a check in the dashboard, with References from a file or Mechanics QA, stay in the browser they were checked in, so keep your own copy of each paper. Without an account, the list Cite a source builds on the site is kept in that browser only.
All of this is free, as are Find sources, Verify references and Check your paper. References from a file, Mechanics QA, Check plagiarism and Check AI come with Pro at $8 a month; Theoretics QA, and reading and borrowing in the Library, come with Max at $24 a month (Pricing).
EdCitation keeps no PDFs and inserts nothing into Word as you type. EdCitation vs Zotero and ZoteroBib shows how the two fit together, with the RIS download as the bridge. For a thesis, keeping hundreds of sources straight takes the same tags further.
Quick questions
Where should I save my references for university?
Somewhere you control that outlasts any one assignment: your own cloud storage, Zotero or Mendeley, or a free EdCitation account. Keep the DOI or ISBN with every entry and tag it by module.
What happens to my references when I leave university?
Anything held only in a university account can go with it: Reading closes student IT accounts a few weeks after the course ends, and Essex asks leavers to remove EndNote. Export your list before your last term finishes.
Can I use the same reference in APA and Harvard?
Yes. Keep the DOI or ISBN and rebuild the entry in the new style. EdCitation's Cite a source builds the same source from one record in any of its six styles, Harvard and APA 7 among them.
Does EdCitation keep my references on every device?
Yes, with a free account: the reference list, the reading list and My Books are saved to your account and are the same on every device you sign in on. Papers checked in the dashboard stay in the browser they were checked in.
References
- American Psychological Association. (2025, October). Elements of reference list entries. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/elements-list-entry
- Baker, M. (2016). 1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility. Nature, 533(7604), 452–454. https://doi.org/10.1038/533452a
- Elsevier. (n.d.-a). 03. Searching and organizing references. Mendeley. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.mendeley.com/guides/mendeley-reference-manager/03-searching-and-organizing-references
- Elsevier. (n.d.-b). 07. Syncing. Mendeley. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.mendeley.com/guides/mendeley-reference-manager/07-syncing
- Elsevier. (n.d.-c). 08. Exporting references. Mendeley. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.mendeley.com/guides/mendeley-reference-manager/08-exporting-references
- Elsevier. (n.d.-d). Mendeley: The free all-in-one reference manager. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.mendeley.com/
- The Open University. (n.d.-a). Quick guide to Harvard referencing (Cite Them Right). Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://university.open.ac.uk/library/referencing-and-plagiarism/quick-guide-to-harvard-referencing-cite-them-right
- The Open University. (n.d.-b). Transcript: Reference management tools, an introduction. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://university.open.ac.uk/library/transcript-reference-management-tools-an-introduction
- University College London. (2026, July 29). Using reference management software for assignments. https://library-guides.ucl.ac.uk/reference-management-software/assignments
- University of Essex. (n.d.). EndNote reference management. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.essex.ac.uk/staff/learning-technologies/endnote
- University of Reading. (2026a, August 6). Leaving the University: What do I need to know? Technology Enhanced Learning Support for Students. https://sites.reading.ac.uk/tel-support-students/leaving-the-university-what-do-i-need-to-know/
- University of Reading. (2026b, September 2). Managing your references. Citing references. https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/citing-references/managing
- University of Western Australia. (2026, August 5). Managing references. An introduction to referencing at UWA. https://guides.library.uwa.edu.au/referencinguwa/managing
- University of York. (n.d.). EndNote. IT Services. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.york.ac.uk/it-services/tools/endnote/
- Williams, L., & Woods, L. (2024). Reference management practices of students, researchers, and academic staff. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 50(3), Article 102879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2024.102879
- Zotero. (n.d.-a). Adding items to Zotero. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.zotero.org/support/adding_items_to_zotero
- Zotero. (n.d.-b). Collections and tags. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags
- Zotero. (n.d.-c). How do I export my Zotero library? Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/exporting
- Zotero. (n.d.-d). How do I import BibTeX or other standardized formats? Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/importing_standardized_formats
- Zotero. (n.d.-e). Syncing. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.zotero.org/support/sync
- Zotero. (n.d.-f). Word processor plugins. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_integration
- Zotero. (n.d.-g). Zotero: Your personal research assistant. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://www.zotero.org/